Prices of rice go up, vegetables drop

Prices of rice have gone up by Tk6 to Tk10 a kg in the city's kitchen market following the outbreak of Coronavirus. Consumers said some unscrupulous businessmen were behind the artificial crisis in the market. Those unscrupulous businessmen, who buy rice from farmers, are cashing in on the situation of the country.Trader
said rice prices are rising in the wholesale market forcing shopkeepers
to buy rice at a higher rate. They blamed millers for the price hike of
rice.While visiting different kitchen markets in the capital this
correspondent found Miniket selling at Tk58-60 a kg while it was sold at
Tk50-52 a kg in the last two weeks. Nazirshile was being sold at Tk60-Tk65 a kg while it was sold at Tk55-58 a kg last week.BR
28 is selling at Tk48-Tk50 while it was sold at Tk40-Tk42 a kg a week
ago. According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), prices of
rice went up by Tk8 to Tk10 a kg on an average.Anas Ali, a rickshaw puller, told the Daily Observer that low-income people are suffering due to increase in coarse rice price. Md
Asadullah, Joint Secretary of Badamtoli-Babubazar Rice Wholesalers
Association, said rice prices will start falling in the upcoming harvest
time.He said the price of Swarna rice has increased by Tk5 to Tk7 a kg at mill gates.Abdur
Rouf, a rice trader at the Segunbagicha Kitchen Market in the capital,
blamed the price hike on wholesalers, who in turn shifted it to the rice
millers.Layek Ali, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Auto Major
Husking Mill Owners Association, told the Daily Observer that the market
trend is normal as rice prices fluctuate after the completion of a
harvest season until the next season arrives.However, there is no
shortage of rice in the country. We have enough reserve of Aman rice for
the next one and a half months, he said.According to the Food
Ministry, the government currently has around 13 million tonnes of rice
in stock and new harvest is expected in the next month.